1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for recording, an apparatus and method for reproducing, an apparatus and method for recording/reproducing, a recording medium, and a distribution medium and more particularly to an apparatus and method for recording, an apparatus and method for reproducing, an apparatus and method for recording/reproducing, a recording medium, and a distribution medium which are suitably used for recording video signals and reproducing recorded video signals.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, DVD-RAM has been proposed as a recordable optical disk. Such a recordable optical disk is proposed as a large capacity medium having several G bytes, and is promising as a medium for recording AV (Audio Visual) signals such as video signals.
As the supply source of digital AV signals which are possible to be recorded in a recordable optical disk, currently VHS or 8 mm video tapes and digital satellite broadcast are available, and in future, digital ground wave television broadcast will be available.
Digital video signals supplied from such sources are generally compressed according to MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group)-2 system. Therefore, when a digital video signal supplied from such source is recorded in the recordable optical disk, a video signal compressed according to MPEG-2 system is once decoded, then encoded according to MPEG-2 system, and recorded in the recordable optical disk.
However, such processing including decoding, encoding, and subsequent recording in an optical disk results in deteriorated image quality of the recorded video signal.
In order to minimize the deterioration of image quality, a method in which a supplied bit stream is recorded as it is in a recordable optical disk without encoding and decoding a compressed video signal supplied from a source has been developed. In other words, the method in which the optical disk is used as a data streamer has been developed.
There is no management data for random access to a recorded bit stream in the recordable optical disk in which a video signal is recorded without encoding and decoding as described herein above. In detail, in the optical disk in which the video signal is recorded as described herein above, no management information for indicating a sector position where the provided program starts is recorded. Therefore, in the case of an optical disk in which a bit stream from a source as described herein above is recorded as it is, random access to the recorded video signal is impossible, the greatest advantage of a disk type recording medium is limited.
If an optical disk in which a bit stream formed by encoding an analog input in a recording apparatus is recorded is distinguished from an optical disc in which a bit stream supplied from a source is recorded as it is, the recording/reproducing apparatus involves two types of optical disk resultantly, such mechanism leads to high cost.